Shares in EV maker BYD (BYDDY) reversed today in the wake of a Hungarian government investigation into subsidies it received from the country's former foreign minister.

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Hundreds of Billions in Support

The investigation into investments into the carmaker was launched after former foreign minister Peter Szijjarto said he was resigning from government and taking up a new role with BYD. Szijjarto helped negotiate state investment deals for BYD.

As a result concerns over a conflict of interest have arisen with Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar declaring that Szijjarto, a close ally of former leader Viktor Orban had helped BYD while he was in office with "hundreds of billions of forints in public money, diplomatic support and state infrastructure.

"We will examine all the decisions, negotiations and state commitments made by Péter Szijjártó that were related to the BYD Hungary investment," Magyar said. The investigation will look into all subsidies, tax breaks, permits, environmental exemptions and publicly-funded investments given to large multinational firms during Orbán's tenure.

BYD's European Expansion

In 2023, Szijjártó announced that BYD would open its first European factory in Hungary — allowing it to avoid European Union import tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles imposed to protect the continent's domestic auto manufacturing sector. In 2025 it was also announced that BYD would have its European HQ and R&D center in Budapest and receive around $64 million in government assistance.

Last month, BYD said it will start assembling cars at its new plant in Hungary in the fourth quarter ‌of this year. The plant is located in Szeged in southern Hungary and is BYD's first ⁠factory in Europe.

BYD is also reportedly eyeing up potential factories in Turkey and Spain. It is also ready to accelerate its European expansion by taking up spare capacity in car factories across the continent and potentially buying struggling iconic brands.

Part of the reason behind its European surge is to escape some of the price wars and intense competition in its domestic market in China.

Is BYDDY a Good Stock to Buy Now?

Given the lack of analyst coverage of the BYDDY stock, let's look at how the stock price has performed over the last 3 months. As we can see below, it is down by 18% during the period.